Coverage Dwindles As Unrest Subsides

News media coverage of events in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is waning as the Palestinian uprising seems to be winding down after nearly six months.

Of more than 500 additional foreign correspondents sent to Israel to cover the disturbances after they began Dec. 9, only four remain in the country, according to a report in Maariv.

Nevertheless, Israel still has one of the highest concentrations of foreign correspondents anywhere in the world. There are some 300 journalists employed by foreign news organizations based here, Maariv said.

Most of them are Israelis who work for overseas radio and television networks, newspapers and news agencies. But the major networks and newspapers augment their Israeli staffs by assigning correspondents for stints of two or three years.

At the height of the uprising, there were more than 250 reporters covering the territories at any one time, and others were sent on special assignment for short periods, Maariv said.